posterior probability (12. 850)

Via the always interesting Quantum of Sollazzo, we are directed towards this rather fascinating data experiment, a quarter of a century after the release of Lou Bega’s iconic hit, which seeks to find out if one can accurately predict when the song came out using Bayesian inference on the names of the women mentioned in the song and analysing the popularity of the chosen names over the decades (see also), whose net likelihood distribution maps nicely to the year it was recorded.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Saint Carlo Borromeo (with synchronopticæ) plus reimagining Slaughterhouse Five

twelve years ago: reinventing the internal combustion engine 

thirteen years ago: a proposed special tax on fast food and take away detritus, Laika for president plus Germany’s take on American democracy

fourteen years ago: changes to Google’s search algorithm 

sixteen years ago: rounding up agewise 

seventeen years ago: Dadaism in signage 

i never lie when i’ve got sand in my shoes (12. 849)

Exactly as it says on the tin, every episode in chronological order of Star Trek: TNG encapsulated in a three-second clip (keeping with the numbering convention for two parters, like the pilot or season finale cliffhangers that list them as a single show). Inspired by one-second clips of the whole of TOS, like Captain Picard said (S6:E25, Timescape, “He just kept talking in one long incredibly unbroken sentence moving from topic to topic so that no one had a chance to interrupt—it was really quite hypnotic.” What’s your favourite out of context sound bite or scene? We are partial to “Star Base 12—your mother?” and Troi saying, “So you like horses for romance?”

irrgarten der leidenschaft (12. 848)

Premiering in München on this day in 1925—though not released in the UK until the following April, the silent, joint Bavarian-British production The Pleasure Garden marked the directorial debut of Alfred Hitchcock, a cinematic adaptation of the 1923 melodrama by Oliver Sandys (one nom d’plume of Marguerite Florence Laura Jarvis who also wrote under the aliases of Countess Barcynska, Armiger Barley and others) about the misadventures of two chorus girls engaged by a theatre in London. Though the interview and audition of one young dancer, Jill—played by American import Carmelita Geraghty, is marred by a purse-snatching right before, she is taken in by a sympathetic member of the company, Patsy (Virginia Valli, another US actor) and ultimately lands a part. Initially a ménage à trois, a throuple Jill eventually succumbs to the overtures of aristocratic guests and leaves her benefactors, abandoning them in the time of the greatest need. Filmed principally in Germany and Lake Como, the movie was deemed too European and without redeeming qualities, hence the delay of it being screened in England and in America regarded as highly objectionable and unwholesome. Whilst not critically well received, one can see some of the motifs of Hitchcock’s later films storyboarded in the opening scenes, anticipating Vertigo, Rear Window and Family Plot.

hey mabel black label (12. 847)

Founded in 1898 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the Fenton Label Company Incorporated specialised in commercial stickers, makers’ marks and gummed labels (see previously) and produced these wonderful sample sheets, like the pictured image from a 1940 catalogue, to advertise their range to potential clients. A wonderful graphic design and typological specimen, we can’t tell if all these North American businesses were actual brick-and-mortar shop fronts or were mock examples meant to demonstrate their printing possibilities but it proved to be a fun exercise to try to trace them down. The Hotel Barlum of Detriot did exist but it’s more of a challenge to track down the more generic brands, shops, services and agents and there are some choice vintage products to be found, such as non-poisonous salmon eggs, fruit tingle and something called original Canadian lotion. More from Present /&/ Correct at the link above.

halloween massacre (12. 846)

With echoes of Nixon’s purge from two years prior—with reporting identifying Donald Rumsfeld as instigator although Gerald Ford later claimed sole responsibility for the firings and expressed deep regret of his cowardice by conceding to ultraconservatives and not insisting it would be himself with Nelson Rockefeller “whatever the consequences”—the major cabinet shakeup of the administration—to redress clashing personalities and legislative priorities and palace intrigues among the staff occurred on this day in 1975,

with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger ousted to be replaced by Brent Scowcroft (though remaining Secretary of State), CIA director William Colby swapped for George H W Bush, Chief of Staff Jame Schlesinger dismissed in favour of Rumsfeld’s protégé Dick Cheney, Rogers Morton out as the Secretary of Commerce for Elliot Richardson, whose resignation during the Saturday Night Massacre precipitated the crisis of confidence that compelled Nixon to step down, and the vice-president (see above) announcing he would no long seek reelection on the ticket. The personnel changes were effective the next morning on election day, an off-year but Ford was very present already on the ballots in anticipation of the 1976 presidential race. 

synchronoptica
one year ago: Kamala Harris and her avatar appear on SNL (with synchronopticæ) plus the Japanese instrument of surrender (1946)

thirteen years ago: footwear styles, the influence and legacy of Tetris plus competition for Germany’s national rail-carrier

fourteen years ago: The Tin Drum Song 

fifteen years ago: legislative gridlock, US political theatre plus the Foundation X conspiracy

seventeen years ago: an unbirthday celebration 

13x13 (12. 845)

norwalk platform: architect Jackie Ferrara ends her life, aged 95  

antedating: lexicographers talks lexicography through canonical form  

spoiler alert—some counties pronounce it as rhyming with stone: further exploration on British toponymy

index of multiple deprivation: UK office of government statistics releases its deciles of the most under-served  

willy and the poor boys: Creedance Clearwater Revival (previously) released their third studio album on this day in 1969 

loss-leader: an image editing tool on par with Adobe makes itself freely available to appeal to non-professionals  

holy war: Trump readies troops for action in Nigeria to protect Christian popular despite a paucity of evidence for persecution 

perfectly al dente: a research roundup of scientific investigations nearly overlooked 

body horror: biopolitics, the body politic and David Cronenberg  

police brutality: Sting and company release their debut album Outlandos on this day in 1978 

county stripes: visualising US demographics and distribution—see also 

anthimeria: the verbification of mystery writers—see previously 

first woman of fluxus: Alison Knowles passes away, aged 92—see more, see also

rock on gold dust woman (12. 844)

Missing this gift exchange during the last leg of Trump’s Asia in the chaos of last week—which netted no concrete trade deals other than a tepid tariff rapprochement with China—it seems in poor taste at first blush for South Korean president Lee Jae Myung to have presented the US president with a replica of an ancient gold crown, particularly right after the No Kings demonstrations, and bestowed on him the Grand Order of the Mugunghwa (Pink Hibiscus) and it’s of course pandering to his doltish vanities. A little low-effort research reveals, however, a possibly deeper meaning that’s half again cleverer than the copy of the birth certificate that Germany gave Trump of his ancestor who fled to avoid the draft and was subsequently stripped of his citizenship. Dating from the Silla dynasty (see previously) and designated among Korea’s National Treasures these delicate gold crowns, with the tensile strength of a tin-foil hat, which were discovered during an excavation of a royal tomb in the old capital city of Gyeongjuwere likely crafted as funerary wares and not to be worn by the living, due to their inherent flimsiness and impractical design, with this lavish headdress a burial good. That’s some apt diplomacy (see also), especially after the US deported all those South Korean workers.

synchronoptica

one year ago: private language creation among twins (with synchronopticæ), the Collins’ Direction Word of the Year, assorted links to revisit, caesaropapism plus the Balfour Agreement of 1917

twelve years ago: an operatic live-stream

fourteen years ago: Palestine is admitted to UNESCO 

 

saint cesario deacono (12. 843)

A deacon originally from the Roman province of Africa, Caesarius began preaching the gospel to the poor of the ancient harbour town of Terracina along the Via Appia between Naples and Rome, accidentally arriving their after a shipwreck brought him providentially to a receptive audience, is feted on this day on the occasion of his martyrdom in year 107 AD. Critical of the long-standing pagan custom—“Alas for a state and emperors who persuade by tortures and are fattened on the outpouring of blood”—of this community under the direction of the priest of Apollo of choosing every first of January a sacrifice, a young man to be indulged all material delights and luxuriated for a span of eight months to become a fit propitiatory offering for the god and on the kalends of the ninth (novem), ceremonially regaled in finery and mounted on a generally recalcitrant steed, made to throw himself from the clifftop into the sea. For refusing to honour their patron and protector (though the pictured temple on the promontory is actually dedicated to Anxurus, a youthful avatar of Juno) and sowing heresy among the community, the priest of Apollo, Caesarius and a local presbyter called Julian were incarcerated and ultimately sentenced to the same fate as the sacrifice, without the pampering beforehand and unceremoniously bundled in a sack and flung off the mountain top. His name meaning “devotee of Caesar,” prompting his sainthood was seen by the early Church as a way of replacing the cult of emperors with their own pious servants—particularly after the daughter of Valentinian I Galla was healed after a visit to his shrine in the fourth century, translating some of his relics to Rome, building a basilica for them on Palatine Hill. With reference to his manner of death, Caesarius is the patron invoked against drowning and protector of Caesarean sections—though Galla would later die during childbirth. Bone fragments are preserved in churches throughout Italy and around the world, including Germany, the United States, the Philippines, Croatia and England.